2-1 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.

publishing as Prentice Hall

Part 1: Technology Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers

Chapter 2: Recognizing and Screening Technology Opportunities

2-2 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Chapter Overview

• Opportunity recognition and creation

• Sources of opportunity

• Screening technology opportunities

2-3 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

How Opportunity Happens

• When entrepreneurs are involved in an active search for opportunities

• When entrepreneurs have the skills to spot an opportunity in the market

• When they have experience in an industry or field of endeavor

2-4 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Employing Creative Problem-Solving Skills

• Divergent thinking– Pulls you away from a central point to explore different directions– Used to generate many ideas quickly

• Convergent thinking– Brings you back to focused thought– Evaluate ideas and devise solutions

• Simplistic problems: only one answer• Deterministic problems: a formula produces one answer• Random problems: different answers are possible• Indeterminate problems: many different answers are possible, but you

need all the information or the right formula

2-5 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Restating the Problem

• Initial problem statement: We don’t have enough lab space.

• Restatement: There are too many people for the space we have.

• Restatement: How can we reduce the number of people we have?

• Restatement: How can we use the space we have more effectively?

2-6 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Engineering Approach to Creative Problem Solving – Clegg & Birch

• Surveying– Gather information to solve the problem and set a goal for the end

of the process using divergent and convergent thinking.

• Building– Based on the information gathered, devise a method for getting to

the goals, identifying all potential obstacles

• Waymaking– Turn what is built into a solution. This is an iterative process that

considers the views of all the stakeholders

• Navigating– Determine resources required to implement the solution and

metrics to track progress and signal reaching the goal

2-7 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

TRIZ Approach – defining the real problem

• This approach focuses on the problem in the belief that the problem defined may not be the actual problem.

• Problems suitable for TRIZ

– Technical conflict and physical contradiction– Inventive problem – involves a trade-off or invention a solution to

resolve a conflict– Ideal machine – finding the simplest way to make the invention

work – how to simplify the device

2-8 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Sources of Opportunity

• Study an industry

• Search the patent literature

• Talk to customers

• Look into university opportunities

• Investigate government sources

• Find new value in existing technology

2-9 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Screening Technology Opportunities

Gauge technology readiness

Determine intellectual property status or potential for IP

Identify potential market applications

Estimate resource requirements

Determine potential risks & challenges

Select technology opportunity

2-10 Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of

America.